The present disclosure relates generally to transport systems for assembly lines, and, more specifically, to hooks for coupling components to transport systems to facilitate moving the components to different stations of an assembly line.
At least some production or assembly lines employ conveyors to transport components between different stations of the production line. Some known conveyors are mounted to a horizontal rail, and roll along that rail to move components between stations on the production line. At least some known conveyors include a chain that is coupled to the component via one or more hooks. In use, known hooks may undesirably move or rotate when there is no load on the chain (i.e., when there is slack in the chain). Consequently, because of the movement of the hooks, when a load is placed on the chain, the hook may support the component along a portion of the hook not designed to bear the full load of the component. As such, over time the hook may fail, the component may become damaged, or the chain may bind or become damaged.